Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo is an American young adult and fantasy author, best known for her Grishaverse novels, particularly the Six of Crows duology and the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which have sold over two million copies, as well as Ninth House. Early Life Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and grew up in Los Angeles, where she was raised by her grandparents. She attended Yale University, graduating with a degree in English in the spring of 1997. Before publishing her first novel, she worked in copywriting and journalism, as well as makeup and special effects. Literary career Bardugo's debut novel, Shadow and Bone, the first book in the Grisha trilogy, was published in 2012 by Macmillan. Shadow and Bone was nominated for the Romantic Times Book Award and the South Carolina Children's Book Award, named an Indie Next List Book, and reviewed in The New York Times. The novel hit #8 on The New York Times Best Seller list, and has been optioned for film by David Heyman and DreamWorks. The other books in the trilogy, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising, were published by Macmillan in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The Six of Crows duology (Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom) was published by Macmillan in 2015 and 2016. It is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy (sometimes referred to as the "Grishaverse"). Six of Crows was named a New York Times Notable Book and an ALA-YALSA Top Ten Pick of 2016. The Language of Thorns, a collection of Grisha fairy tales and folk tales, was published by Macmillan in 2017. Bardugo then wrote the first book in the DC Icons series, which are novelizations of DC Comics' biggest superheroes; her Wonder Woman: Warbringer was published by Penguin Random House in 2017. Bardugo also has essays and short stories in anthology collections such as Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life, Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, and Summer Days and Summer Nights. Her books have been translated into 22 languages and published in over 50 countries. Adaptations In September 2012, it was announced DreamWorks had picked up the movie rights to Shadow and Bone with David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford producing, although this project did not to come into fruition due to a change in leadership. In January 2019, Netflix ordered an eight-episode series based on the Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows book series. On October 2, 2019, some of the cast members were announced for the Netflix series, including Ben Barnes as The Darkling, Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker, Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov, Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, Kit Young as Jesper Fahey, Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik, Daisy Head as Genya Safin, and Calahan Skogman as Matthias Helvar. Leigh Bardugo responded to the Twitter reaction by telling the audience that this was only the first round of cast announcements, and that Nikolai, along with several other central characters, would not be in season 1. On October 10, 2019 it was announced Amazon Studios would adapt Ninth House. Bardugo is set to exective produce the project alongside Pouya Shahbazian. Personal Life In the Acknowledgements section of Six of Crows, the author reveals she suffers from osteonecrosis and sometimes needs to use a cane. She is also a singer in the band Captain Automatic.